The Great Escape
Escape In the abyss of darkness, there was absolutely nothing. All that was clear, was Marin was being held up by chains, all to a sadistic woman's pleasure. Ayako grinned. "It pains me to do this, partner, but under the circumstances I'm afraid I must ask you to show me some proof. That you and she were not in collusion." Melissa emerged from the shadows. "You don't trust me, is that it?" "Not that... But she is your friend." Melissa grimaced. "What do you want me to do?" Ayako began to cackle ominously. "Let's see... Cut out her eyes! I don't like those blue eyes of her. There is nothing more important to a girl than her eyes. Yes, it will make for a touching display. She's all yours. Do it! Ruin her." Melissa drew a knife and approached Marin, poised to cut out her left eye, before she immediately stopped herself. "No more." Ayako fumbled upon hearing Melissa's answer. "Well, well... why are you protecting her? ...Wait, you're a spy!" "What are you talking about!?' Ayako grabbed Melissa's chest, who responded with a slap. "...Then I'll test you." She began to juggle three revolvers, one of them loaded with one bullet. Each time she pulled the trigger, Melissa winced. However, Marin had kept an eye on which revolver was loaded. When she saw it come down into Ayako's hand, she backed up and swung into Ayako; causing Ayako's aim to be thrown off and the revolver fired... The bullet barely missed Marin's eye by a hair's width as Melissa grabbed the revolver from Ayako and slapped her, growling, "Satisfied now?!" Ayako cackled, "Well, that was refreshing. I'm going to my room now." With that, the evil woman left the scene. Melissa picked up the third revolver and loaded it with a single bullet. She immediately placed the revolver in her belt, freeing her from the binds which tied her. "Run!" ---- "This has got to be the stupidest woman I've seen." Mina was running through the streets with Kisara behind her, turning a sharp corner past the restuarant. She looked very agitated, which was unusual for Mina, who was fairly cheerful most of the time. "Who has their evil lair located on a publicly accessed island right around a very busy restaurant?" She gritted her teeth. "Hey Kisara, ever wanted to just shoot something right through someone's head?" Kisara nodded. "Oh, I was feeling that earlier. A lot.Though replace 'shoot' with 'stab' and you've got it." "If I found out this Ayako even considered ''harming Marin, I won't hesitate to spill her brains. Do you have a problem with this?" Mina shot her friend a glare from over her shoulder. "I have the same feeling." Kisara agreed wholeheartedly. "...Though, this Ayako seems like a walking cliche; right out of a book I'd read...Almost too much like a walking cliche." "I agree. And let me tell you, I'm probably going to kill the ca-!" Mina just kept talking, and not watching where she was going, and promptly crashed into an oncoming Marin. Marin was looking weary- her body was slumping forth, and it was stained with an icky scarlet. Her heavy breathing was obviously audible, as she just looked at Mina with wide eyes, wrapping her arms around the Quincy woman and hugging her tightly. "Mina!" "M-Marin, you're alright!" Mina was thrilled, and embraced the girl in return, kissing her deeply in her excitement, and then proceeded to check her over for wounds. "You're really in one piece?" Relief washed over her when she was saw Marin had no noticeable wounds."I think Ayako is stupider than we thought, Kisara." Kisara nodded. "...No duh. She's a walking cliche." Mina kept checking over her girlfriend, still worried something was wrong. "How did you get away? Did they do anything to you? Did they ''try to do anything to you?" The last addition to the sentence seemed ominous. Marin brushed her eye. "Well, they nearly took my eye out. And that cat clawed my stomach while Ayako shoved the butt of her scythe up my butt. I don't know what the last one was neccessary, but she said "even evil masterminds need some lovin' too"." She left Melissa out of this. "....I think this pretty much confirms I am going to kill her." Mina said these words as if they were the easiest thing she'd ever spoken. "Do you remember the way you came, Marin?" Marin pointed backwards. "Forward, forward, down, left, left, right, right, we should be there." That was almost the Konami Code. "...We'll just follow you." Mina sighed. Bond Villain Stupidity Ayako swirled around on her swivel chair, stroking her cat. "Muahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! It's all falling into place!" Her cat purred. "Even Mr. Grimplekins is excited! Don't see how easily these people are falling into our trap, Melissa!?" Melissa merely sighed and began to walk away. "I don't understand how you manage to function." ---- Kisara sighed, "So, it's the Konami Code, eh? Let's start by walking forward...and you give us the rest of the directions, Marin. Cuz I can't remember the code off the top of my head." "Actually, I have a better idea." Mina decided directions would be far too mundane. She closed her eyes, and could feel faint traces of a foreign soul around Marin. "That'll do it..." She began to concentrate, and around the entire group appeared long, flowing ribbons. Marin rubbed her stomach. "Now I'm hungry...Anyway, what do we have to do here?" "Reiraku." Mina gestured to the flowing ribbons surrounding them. 'These ribbons are the energies of everyone's soul, shown in a form we can see easily. With these, I can find this Ayako even without following your strange cheat code." Marin frowned. "Your spiritual ways are confusing, Mina...." Mina smiled. "Don't think too much then, Marin-''chan''." She added the honorific because she knew Marin would like it. Kisara must feel like a third wheel. "Now..." Mia concentrated, and reached out, grabbing onto a flowing white ribbon. "And, here we are." The ribbons vanished, and Mina took off, calling after the girls to follow. Marin asked, "Are we there yet? I mean, this should be easy, right?" "Stop being so impatient." Mina was closely following the reiraku's trail. "Only patient girls get their girlfriends to cook them bacon later." She was just constantly baiting Marin with things she knew the girl would want. Soon, they came to a wall, a dead end. "Geronimo." Mina conjured her bow, utterly destroying the wall with a Heilig Pfeil, and the resulting hole let them jump right in. The moment the three landed; Kisara's magical aura surrounded her; erupting from her small body in the form of crimson waves. "Alright, I've got you in my sights. Now, prepare to pay for what you've done!" Clearly, she wasn't good with those speeches. Ayako clasped her hands, doing what is quite aptly known as the 'Gendou pose'. "Ahah! So you have come to your doom! There is no chance to survive!" Mr. Grimplekins meowed evilly. CRASH! A flash of light ricocheted off the wall, and slammed Mr. Grimplekins into the wall on the opposite side, leaving a bloody mess. "Hello, Ayako. My name is Mintaka Lestrange, girlfriend of Marin Sawashiro, the one you just kidnapped. I'm here to settle a little bit of business with you." Ayako stood out of her chair after seeing her beloved kitten be blasted into oblivion. "How DARE you! Animal abuse...That's not very heroic! It's gonna be such a mess cleaning that up...and buying a new cat." Kisara snarked, "Honestly, you really are pathetic. It's like, as if, you're deliberately attempting to get yourself killed. Nobody in their right mind would actually act like a stereotypical villain. The sheer idiocy is mind-boggling." Ayako slammed her fist into the wall, leaving a small indent. "Silence, fool! How can you understand my motives!?" "...It's taking over the world, right?" Marin sighed. "Of course!" Cue collective facepalm. "And your entire point of kidnapping my Marin was what...lure us into a trap?" Mina asked, waiting to see if the answer was what she expected. Hadn't she seen a movie like this? Ayako deviously confirmed this. "Ahahahahahaha, yes! Now that you're trapped, I have you all right where I want you!" "True..." Mina walked further into the room, looking around. "I suppose, if you were foolish enough to set traps in your own office, then yes, we are right where you want us. Buuuuut..." She raised her crossbow, pointing it at Ayako's head. "Which do you think can happen quicker? A bolt through your skull, or the activation of your trap?" Ayako pressed a button under the table, which quickly activated the trap...a trap door. ...But it was in front of her targets- not right under them. She made a gesture. "Uh, can you lot step forward, please? That didn't go so well..." Kisara couldn't hold back laughter. "Pahahahahahahahaha...oh this is comedy gold." Mina was losing her patience. "Good-bye." She pulled the trigger on her crossbow, releasing several fast moving bolts towards Ayako's head. Instantly, Ayako used a human-version of Flash Step to evade the bolts from Mina's crossbow; zooming across the office, nailing Marin in the face with a flying kick with enough power to blow her straight through the building. Marin, while in motion, commented, "...I did not expect thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!" Blasting Off Again "Marin!" Mina hissed, drawing a silver tube out of her sleeve. Gripping it, she threw it towards Ayako, and called out the spell name "Gritz!" The tube exploded, releasing a massive amount of blue energy which became solid and tried to wrap around Ayako in the coffin that had imprisoned Kisara in the girls' first fight. Ayako withdrew an enormous scythe; slicing the Gritz spell away with ease. She leapt into the air, swinging an enormous blade of pressure towards Mina, in an attempt to blow her away. Mina drew in spiritrons, condensing them into an invisible, dense collection of energy in both hands, and expelled it in a wave, cancelling out the pressure and dashed forward using Hirenkyaku, sending several bolts of Heilig Pfeil towards Ayako. Swinging her scythe around similarly to a flag-girl cheering, Ayako reflected the bolts back to Mina, while kicking off, spinning around and aiming the blade of the scythe straight at Mina's head. She was utterly silent; focusing on the sole goal of eliminating her foes. Kisara raised her hands into the air; and declared, "Geneiken!" Instantly, a torrent of phantasmal swords resembling broadswords shot towards Ayako who was in mid-motion, all released in a flurry, or a storm, of cold metal death towards her opponent. Ayako withdrew a handgun from her cloak, shooting the spell down in it's tracks while she focused on Mina, swinging her scythe away with a wild fury that belied her appearance. Truly, despite her idiocy, she was deadly in a straight-up fight. "Tch, what is this woman? Where's the clueless, overly cheerful villain from before?" Mina was very confused, but decided to leave Ayako to Kisara for a moment, and she rushed to the fallen Marin's side. She bent down, picking the girl up and nearly cradling her. "Are you alright, Marin? You're just getting in danger often today." Marin rubbed her head. "Owowowowow...I'm not a walking disaster zone, got it!?" She snapped at her lover fiercely. "You....you really kind of are." Mina replied, rubbing the girl's forehead. "Either way...let's focus on Ayako here. We can discuss what we'll buy to diminish your accidents later." Meanwhile, Ayako focused upon her next target; dashing over to Kisara, heaving her hefty scythe towards the mage's frail body with every intent to cleave her clean in half. Kisara amassed magical power on her hands, forming an oblong-shaped shield on the back of her hands to repel Ayako's attack before pushing her away. "...Tch. Why are you a threat now..." Leaping back, Ayako charged energy within the blade of her scythe, giving it a clawed and fanged appearance. "Rekkouga!" She swung the weapon forward, releasing an insurmountable wave of shining darkness from the scythe, rending the area around her and her foes. The moment that she was impaled, Kisara smirked at Ayako, quickly pulling the scythe out of her gut. "Pain...this is why I fight." A beautiful splash of crimson scattered upon her clothing and the ground. "Naturally, this is where I feel truly alive!" As she glanced up at Ayako; her eyes had become a haunting crimson. Kisara summoned a demonic looking sword to her hand, spinning it around her wrist before pointing it at Ayako menacingly. "Tch...her cogs are loosening more and more..." Mina pulled out a silver tube, and her hands began to glow. "I could have sworn I felt her sanity was a bit more...intact when she came back from fighting that man. What did he do? And why isn't it working!?" ''She moved forward with Hirenkyaku, leaping into the air before becoming stationary, floating above Ayako. Chucking the silvertube towards Ayako, she began to incant. "Feel the wrath of battle and accept this sacred chalice - Heizen!"'' She thrust her hands in front of each other, in the manner of a cross, and the tube burst into the form of large sharpened block, which fell down at immense speed, gaining more speed and power the more it fell, aiming to slice Ayako in half. Ayako merely glanced to her side; as energy gathered at her feet and she dissapeared into the air; using her gaudy coat as a way to float psudo-scientifically. Actually disappointed at Kisara, Ayako muttered. "But I misjudged you. You really are like me, after all." Kisara grinned, "Now you're just being nasty. Ahahahaha!" Swinging her sword around her wrist, Kisara assumed a battle stance. "Let's do it!" There was only about thirty meters separating the two. Kisara's body came ricocheting off. With this distance it didn't even take a few seconds for Kisara to approach her foe; as Kisara swung the blade down, heaving it downwards with both of her hands, aiming to obliterate Ayako in a single strike. During this entire exchange, Mina had taken the initiative to make a move, launching herself into the air along with the two combatants, ensuring she'd make it so Ayako had much less of a chance for escaping. Mintaka lifted her crossbow towards Ayako. "Engelhaft Licht." She released a mechanism within her crossbow, allowing her to fire several Heilig Pfeil bolt in nearly every direction. They even ricocheted off walls, ensuring they'd come from Ayako's blindspots, and areas unguarded. Mina did, however, avoid releasing a Heilig Pfeil bolt in the direction of the oncoming Kisara. "...Gh!" Ayako snarled as she was struck by Mina's fierce barrage. This was a suitable distraction, as Kisara's blade did indeed make contact with Ayako, who barely blocked it with her scythe. Naturally, it caused a significant amount of knockback, sending the woman spiralling down to the ground as if she were a bullet. Impacting hard with the floor, Ayako was blown through the floor and down to the basement of her lair. There, she quickly stood up, panting heavily. "...How did they suddenly get a lot more competent..." 'Kisara' snarled; "...Not dead yet?" She swung her blade around. "Good! I think it's time to let 'er rip!" Whoosh; instantly, she dissapeared- reappearing before Ayako, she began to swing her vicious-looking blade like a madwoman at her ferociously. To Mina, it looked as if it was going to be a sure-kill, and she raised a hand to stop Marin from making a movement. "Let's just stant back here. I came here with the intention of killing her anyway. If Kisara makes the kill for me...." While she didn't mind Ayako dying, as threating Marin was one thing no one should do if they liked having a head intact, something about how Kisara was about to perform the kill put her off. "Repeatedly...you fall into darkness, Kisara..." The Ayako in front of them seemed to disperse; and reappeared behind Kisara, attempting to get a cheap shot in... ...Stab. Ayako glanced back; noticing that Melissa had stabbed her in the stomach. "...Why?" Ayako genuinely felt heartbreak at this betrayal. Melissa's eyes were not visible; and she merely muttered, "Partner or not, these are my friends. Nobody. Hurts. My. Friends. Do you understand!?" "M-Melissa!" Mina looked at the girl with wide-eyed wonder. It was understandable she'd be surprised, Melissa's...less than heroic behaviour during their match had given her a very low opinion of the girl, and had actually caused her to feel really terrible about her own judgement skills. "Was....was I wrong?" Melissa gave Mina an aside glance, basically telling her "you're not wrong, but you're not right". It was one of those looks. "Stay put for now. I am definitely on your side. For now, at least. I treasure you as my friends; and I would never turn my back on you." Mina walked over to Melissa, and actually wrapped her arms around the girl in a hug. "Thank you, Melissa. And, I'm sorry I doubted you..." She broke away from the hug, and eyed the girl for a moment. 'Though it does bring your morality into question nonetheless..." Marin was still suspcious. "You must spend every day pretending to act like you're falsely letting on that you aren't not unbetraying someone you don't not purport to allegedly not work for but really do! How do you keep this shit straight without having an aneurysm?" Melissa shrugged, smiling and laughing, "Practice~" Kisara was still confused. "...Wait, so you're not good, but you're not bad, either...that's honestly kinda confusing." "She rescued us though. That's the important thing." Mina was insistent on this one. "Let's just be happy with that." Marin brushed the dirt off of her clothes. "...Huh?" As she blinked, she noticed that Ayako had dissapeared; slinking into the shadows, seemingly no worse for wear. At least...that was what she thought she witnessed. Surely, it could have been a figment of her imagination. Mina turned her eyes to Kisara. "Kisara...are you alright?" She walked over to the girl, looking her dead in the eye. "You were about to lop someone's head off, and you weren't acting like you. I thought your encounter with that man had fixed this..." Kisara's eyes seemed to sharpen for a moment, before they snapped back to their usual emerald hue. "...Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm not really sure what happened...it's just like, I lost control. I am honestly not sure; it's best to let sleeping dogs lie, as they say." "No." Sanger manifested before them, and his face had nothing but disappointment for Kisara. "You have in. Even after I placed a seal upon Jack, you gave in and let the seal loosen, allowing Jack to slip through." He looked at the girl as if he'd made some mistake, but didn't want to admit it. "You are a disappointment, and our time together has barely begun." Unlike his usual, jovial manner, these words were harsh, and meant to strike the heart. Kisara's eyes shone red for a moment. "Eh, what can you do? It's just nature running it's course!" Her eyes returned back to normal. "...H-Huh? The heck do you mean?" She...didn't like people looking down on her. It was a pet peeve. A really big one. "I can sum it up easily." Sanger replied coldly. "You are weak. Your own will is far too weak to protect yourself. At this rate, you'll be lucky to retain your sanity for another three months." "T-three months!?" Mina was shocked. Whatever was happening to Kisara...was it progressing so fast? "Three months...and every bit of you that you hold dear will be gone." Sanger walked through the girl, and went to sit at Ayako's desk. He waved his hand, removing the remains of the dead cat from the wall. "You will no longer be able to hold on to those precious to you, and far from protecting them, you will most likely rip them to pieces. Do you want this on your conscience?" Kisara thought about it for a few moments. "No, I don't want to think about it. That's why. I want to learn what you need to teach me. To break free from this weak self of mine." Sanger conjured the same scroll from nowhere, and handed it out to her. "Then come with me, Kisara. To the edge of your reality." END